diff --git a/packages/plugin-ext/src/hosted/browser/worker/worker-env-ext.ts b/packages/plugin-ext/src/hosted/browser/worker/worker-env-ext.ts
index 8599f1d8667d6..d94a3b3ba51a7 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-ext/src/hosted/browser/worker/worker-env-ext.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin-ext/src/hosted/browser/worker/worker-env-ext.ts
@@ -28,11 +28,9 @@ export class WorkerEnvExtImpl extends EnvExtImpl {
         super();
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Throw error for app-root as there is no filesystem in worker context
-     */
     override get appRoot(): string {
-        throw new Error('There is no app root in worker context');
+        // The documentation indicates that this should be an empty string
+        return '';
     }
 
     get isNewAppInstall(): boolean {
diff --git a/packages/plugin/src/theia.d.ts b/packages/plugin/src/theia.d.ts
index 535109db71e61..93093b6ab6a76 100644
--- a/packages/plugin/src/theia.d.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin/src/theia.d.ts
@@ -7734,6 +7734,9 @@ export module '@theia/plugin' {
 
         /**
          * The application root folder from which the editor is running.
+         *
+         * *Note* that the value is the empty string when running in an
+         * environment that has no representation of an application root folder.
          */
         export const appRoot: string;